March 15, 2005

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Friday Nite Funtime Dances - It'll be the "wearin' of the green" dance for developmentally disabled teens and young adults at the Edison Community Center on Friday, March 18 in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Doors open at 7:15 p.m., and the dance ends at 9:30 p.m. Fee is $2 at the door. No entry after 8:00 p.m.

Chemical-Free Cleaning - If you're leery of bringing abrasive and smelly cleaning products into your home, there's a workshop just for you, "Spring Cleaning - Naturally!" You will learn to make your own household cleaners using baking soda, vinegar, herbs, essential oils, and other natural ingredients that are environmentally safe and effective for the kitchen, bathroom, laundry and more. This is a one-class workshop on April 16 at Murdy Community Center. Cost is $40 with a $5 materials fee.

Marine Safety - Marine Safety held tryouts this past Sunday for candidates interested in guarding the city's 3 1/2 miles of beachfront. Over sixty applicants signed up to participate in the grueling three-event run-swim-run. Candidates had to endure 58-degree water and sizable surf while swimming around the barnacle-encrusted pier pilings. Forty-one applicants finished all three events, and of those, half will be invited to participate in a 110-hour training program. Trainees will compete in physical, practical and written examinations, hoping to finish at the top of the class. Depending on the number of vacancies created by current guards who decide not to return, top finishers will be offered seasonal employment with a starting pay of $14.12 an hour.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Waterfront SeaColony Sold Out - The final home in the 78-unit SeaColony community by Christopher Homes is now in escrow. The last escrow is scheduled to close by the end of March. The Redevelopment Agency's participation payments from this element of the Waterfront residential will be $10,197,105, assuming all contracted sales close as scheduled. SeaCove by William Lyon Homes, the 108-unit portion of the Waterfront residential, is preparing to start sales for Phase 5, with Phase 3 escrows to close later this spring. It is anticipated that the Redevelopment Agency's participation threshold for this portion of the project will be reached with a Phase 3 closing.

Annual Sales Tax Comparison Report - Ultra Research Inc., a private sector firm, publishes an annual countywide report that compares retail sales tax by city, including some interesting information on per-capita sales and on "leakage" or "capture" of sales tax among the cities. "Leakage" is basically the amount of retail purchases that a city's residents make in another city, which has then "captured" those sales tax dollars. The most recent report, for calendar year 2003, shows the following changes in Huntington Beach:

• Huntington Beach per capita sales ranking among the 34 cities in Orange County held steady from 2001 to 2002 at number 21. Overall, our total retail taxable sales increased 5.6% from 2002, while our per capita taxable retail sales increased approximately 4.3%.
• When compared to the County average, our total per capita "leakage" unfortunately increased nearly 25% in the most recent report; to $1,846 in lost sales per resident, for a total loss to Huntington Beach of $365 million in sales.
• The largest categories of retail sales leakage are General Merchandise, which totals nearly $130 million in lost retail sales, Other Retail Stores, at $106 million, Service Stations at $43, and Eating and Drinking Places with $36 million in losses. In the "capture" category, our two money-earning categories of retail sales are Building Materials, with $28 million, and Food Stores, earning $9 million.